Patch 2.4

[Boro]

With 2.4 out and Low Rent Legion finished, I set out to have a look at how a hell difficulty Iron Wolf looks like. I am not disappointed. He might not be a big monster processor, but for my lowly barb this is more than adequate a companion. Note that Firebolt and Fireball seems to be synergizing with their "normal" base levels, so 27x16% for firebolt, and 29x14% for fireball.

A very expensive upgrade would be a Flickering Flame + dual spirit + chains of honor setup. That needs level 85 or 86, below that you'll need more than Chains' +20 strength for the spirit shield. Good news is that Jarulf has plenty of resists even in hell, so there is no need to worry about that. The big deal would be faster cast rate obviously, but +6 to skills wouldn't hurt either. +7 if you ditch the sword for a hexfire. I imagine that would be a lot of damage. There is also Enlightenment, but getting a strength boosting armor for a Spirit monarch is a better investment. Then there's Enigma, which doesn't even need Jarulf to be that high a level as it has even more strength boost, but it's enigma so not very useful for people like us.

[KingOfPain]

The Runeword armors would certainly be nice.

I find Griswold Heart to be an awesome piece of cheap easy (req) armor that fills many needs.

Only lvl 45 with only 102 Str Req

+20 Str

AND 3 sockets! that you can customize it for your merc's needs. For example, Your merc can use that Spirit shield much younger since you can get a total of +50 Str from the armor alone.
best of all, it drops like rain

[Boro]

That's good to know (of course I spend too much time in normal to really find anything like that). Anyways Jarulf is as good as it gets for now, LRL_PunchingBag earned his rest.

Another topic worth bringing up is how the mana burn fix will affect energy shield's viability. You've been using it a lot, does this mean we'll see more problems from the succubus mana curse?

Other than that the patch has been mostly good. I don't like how Death Sentry's synergy has been handled, since any build that includes it and fireblast will have a weaker fireblast now against immunes, and of course the old hybrid lightning fury javazon with charged strike is dead for good, but the former is only a 2% nerf once close to a hundred points have been sunk into traps, while the other is something I opted to mod out by making lightning bolt viable(40/22/36/86/102/124 with 16% synergy for max damage). Once I get off my butt and finish the character / async team I run her in, I'll write my experiences so that maybe people here and blizzard will consider playing that way.

But then again the mana cost reduction for mageazons is great, Fire Arrows too, Impale I have to try out someday, the fire traps I DO want to play with more, Druids are a whole different beast now, its a lot to try. Then there is the change to Insight making powerful bows a lot more obtainable starting from ilvl26, and now we've got the all-round Martial Arts changes plus the pattern runeword coming in.

Also anything I'm missing can be played in 1.14d as much as I want.

[KingOfPain]

Another topic worth bringing up is how the mana burn fix will affect energy shield's viability. You've been using it a lot, does this mean we'll see more problems from the succubus mana curse?

I dunno. Energy Shield has always been viable to me   

That's why I always build my sorcy with ES. One might think, maybe my sorcies die all the time. But you have to know I play at least 3 sorcy builds every iteration, and they are the most played and highest lvl toons. You don't get to high lvl if you die often. And it wouldn't be fun at all to MF with them.

I think many people missed the point when I show them to have base vit, and have anywhere from 150-200 stat points saved. I do know how to distribute points. I am not running base Vit because I needed points for Dex/Str. I am not even running base Vit because I am pumping Energy. Yes, I use a few points in Nrg, just to avoid having to drink the Blues and enough shielding to not get 1-2 hit killed.

Those unused stat points are, "put your money where your mouth is" so to speak, you know, with all these people saying "Enough Str/Dex to equip items, then all points to Vit".   It renders the debate on stat points distribution, irrelevant.

The Mana Curse has always been an annoyance and I do notice it might have changed. But I haven't played on those enough to decide how bad it is. When I run my Forge mules to get the Personalize reward I would switch out to a fast walk Amz with Vigor to do it. The Sorcy can do it faster but just annoying having to keep drinking or stop teleporting.

Then there is the change to Insight making powerful bows a lot more obtainable starting from ilvl26

Certainly excited to make a few Insight bows. Never mind the Meditation Aura, just the damage output itself out class most anything at lvl 27 and beyond. Tho, have to take a closer look how endgame Insights compare to other endgame bows.

Hmm, only Hunter's and Composite bow type max at 4 holes... At least they are the fastest bows and not high in req.
Composite Bow avg dmg = 6
Long War Bow avg dmg = 13 (wow twice as much in normal form)

Hydra Bow avg dmg = 39 Speed 10
Great Bow avg dmg = 32 Speed -10 with way less req. A clear winner.

[Boro]

Another topic worth bringing up is how the mana burn fix will affect energy shield's viability. You've been using it a lot, does this mean we'll see more problems from the succubus mana curse?

I dunno. Energy Shield has always been viable to me   

That's why I always build my sorcy with ES. One might think, maybe my sorcies die all the time. But you have to know I play at least 3 sorcy builds every iteration, and they are the most played and highest lvl toons. You don't get to high lvl if you die often. And it wouldn't be fun at all to MF with them.

I know! You keep saying something like "If you plan to get hit, you will play to get hit", and showed the 2019 iteration of McTyraelGal at base vit. The simplest to think would be that indeed, if you play at the same breakneck pace that everyone "mainstream" plays in, then you'll be looking at a lot of death screens. However, you play a lot slower in those videos.

It's probably a good time now to ask how it affects your magic finding. How exactly do you live and thrive on base vit and low energy? Or do you "simply" not hurry? Is it a piecemeal upgrade of gear slowly incrementing the area of influence you can safely do?

Then there is the change to Insight making powerful bows a lot more obtainable starting from ilvl26

Certainly excited to make a few Insight bows. Never mind the Meditation Aura, just the damage output itself out class most anything at lvl 27 and beyond. Tho, have to take a closer look how endgame Insights compare to other endgame bows.

200-260% ED. That's either a maxed ferocious or a lower-half cruel. Of course that's not all, the 180-250% to attack rating is another big deal, only Faith has +AR%, and that's way into post-game farming. The 1-6 critical strikes (+1-3 for Amazons) is cherry on top.

In comparison, faith offers 330% Weapon ED, 237..288% off-weapon ED for you and half of that for the party, 300%+(95..110) attack rating and +1..2 all skills instead of critical strike oskill, 15% all resist instead of +5 all attributes.

So for a tiny fraction of the rune cost, you get a runeword more than enough to run through Hell.

BTW, a great bow at maximum ED% roll will deal 52..187 damage before dexterity+might+etc are factored in. Averages out to 119 damage.

And this is without talking about the meditation aura.

[KingOfPain]

All the while there’s no denying the toons will be “better” built if you throw in an inventory full of anni, torch and charms, wear nothing but best in place items and get 10k mana shield and 10k HP and do 10 dmg… But that has absolutely zero, zilch, zip, nada, nothing to do with skill. So they can read text files and run a spreadsheet…

That don't impress me much - Shania Twain

I feel like we are somewhat comparing Apples to Oranges...

...if you play at the same breakneck pace that everyone "mainstream" plays in, then you'll be looking at a lot of death screens…

… Or do you "simply" not hurry?

That proves my point. You play sloppy, you pump vit. But the latter part of that sentence is still not true, because…

When do I need to play at breakneck speed? During Magic Finding. I have posted videos on those runs, pretty average speed comparable to fully loaded youtube toons. If they can tele hop to the destinations any faster, they would be using maphack. So that leaves us to the actual killing of the target. Of course they would kill faster there, because they are fully loaded to lvl 50 skills, yada, yada.

Playing speed on killing monsters has more to do with killing power and less to do with safety.

However, you play a lot slower in those videos

That is like saying you can mince garlic with a hammer way faster than using a chef’s knife. I move forward just as fast as monsters die, just as anyone does. Speed in the sense you mentioned is throwing a machine gun vs a pistol.

It can also be argued that the pistol guy has high survivability since she has less killing power and has to deal with monsters longer.

It's probably a good time now to ask how it affects your magic finding. How exactly do you live and thrive on base vit and low energy? 

The most recent vid I posted, FO+Hydra, just a random unplanned vid showing I was having fun with the new Hydra upgrade. I accidentally cast a couple of TPs and brought up the Character screen (sloppy, I know) at 0:35. That set up is just a Tal set, 2 Nagelrings, MF Boots and Chance Guards. A no-brainer. The setup comes in about ~350% MF. On the switch is an Ali Baba with 2 Ist and a Rhyme shield weighing in ~500%.

I didn’t bother to socket the head, armor and orb, I am lazy like that. If I throw in 3 Ist, that would up another 80% MF to both setup. I am thinking the Rhyme shield is so old school and might as well replace it with another Sprite, or a plain monarch with 4 Ist. That’s another 100% for the swap. Which means I can do ~430%, and ~700% on the swap - without affecting anything. Haha, I now have enough Ist to do so - If I don’t mind giving up the dream of having a high runeword or 2 ;p

Is it a piecemeal upgrade of gear slowly incrementing the area of influence you can safely do?

What are the 2 toughest areas to MF? Meph and Baal runs. They are not tough because of the end bosses, they are tough because of the likes of Stygian Dolls and the likes of Black Souls. No one wants to stay around to fight those. That’s where FCR and teleporting skill comes in. Why she would dare to teleport into a mob. You want to be in Teleportation at all times. With enough FCR, you are always in transit before a hit can be registered, even if you Teleport in place. Teleporting in place is different than a failed Teleport (where you point to a place you cannot Teleport to, for example).

Again, there's no denying if McTyraelGal was loaded up like a youtube toon the toon would be "better"
But I make every conscious efforts to stay as far away from those as possible. Why she runs FO and Hydra (pre 2.4) instead of Blizzard or some pure Lightning build. I mean, if I don't already have enough naked and hardcore variants going already, she would run naked with Ice Bolt or something.

And that is why I always say
Skill > Skills

[KingOfPain]

On reporting meeting up with Uber Diablo

McTyraelGal was immune to the Clones Fire and Light But she could barely do enough damage to the Clone even after she Static'd him to half health.

And that's just from switching a couple pieces of jewellery and a belt that she has in her personal stash. The stats are still the same.

Here a 1.10 Meph run at lvl 86 with 187 points saved. That was an unplanned random vid with normal running gear. Did the 47 sec Meph run seem slow for you?



but some one said she drank twice....

So I switched a few pieces around and set her up for melee. Same stats and no drinking allowed

Look at her Mana Globe and Life Globe!? ~400HP, and ~300 Mana.



You may notice especially vs Pindle and co, it took longer because she was trying harder to separate her merc from the mob so she would not be accused of her merc tanking for her.

[Boro]

This is the first time I hear about the TP transit.

I get that skill > skills, I'm just bad at applying it to Diablo 2. I played Dark Souls 2 with base vigor of Deprived, which is practically as low as it gets (barring starting as Swordsman or Sorcerer), so I know how it works there. Of course there is the option of luring, scouting, and sometimes hiding behind a phantom, dodge rolls or just plain blocking with a big shield while poison or something else does the work.

In Diablo 2, I'm not so knowledgeable. Worst are archers for me, then particularly unlucky doll bosses, minotaurs, anything that charges, then Duriel. (Worst of them all is of course myself, when I get into game while fatigued, but at least that's something I can avoid.)

I remember these videos. That was not a slow mephisto run at all. For Pindle I see you being careful, but then you jump in and you still don't take hundreds of damage to your mana ball despite the boss being extra strong Is that just the power of fast teleport and energy shield combined with insight mana regen and defiance defenses?

I also watched her against Andariel in the andy run. That was fast too. Honestly, the more I look at it the less daunting it looks. Maybe I should do a low-vit mediocre-gear sorc and practice with her some. I'll see. Is there anything in particular needed for the merc, beyond insight? (Okay, maybe a good insight) Big defense elite armor? any particular helm? Just so he won't die in an eyeblink hit like he used to.

[KingOfPain]

I get that skill > skills, I'm just bad at applying it to Diablo 2. I played Dark Souls 2 with base vigor of Deprived, which is practically as low as it gets (barring starting as Swordsman or Sorcerer), so I know how it works there. Of course there is the option of luring, scouting, and sometimes hiding behind a phantom, dodge rolls or just plain blocking with a big shield while poison or something else does the work.

That's the ticket.  You remember these thing and hard won battles, not how you can steamrolled the toughest boss. You played the game.

I remember these videos. That was not a slow mephisto run at all. For Pindle I see you being careful, but then you jump in and you still don't take hundreds of damage to your mana ball despite the boss being extra strong Is that just the power of fast teleport and energy shield combined with insight mana regen and defiance defenses?

Here's my math.

First of all, she runs a Defiance merc which help her from being hit to begin with

She's got perfect fast block from a StormShield, which means only 25% of hits get through.

Then she wears a Elite Shaftstop, plus one cold armor or another - Bumps defence

String of Ear for Leech and an extra 15% damage reduction, together with Shaftstop and Stormshield for a total of 80%

(And here's something that practically no one credits Energy Shield for) Then SPLIT THE DAMAGE between mana and health.

Insight is why you never see her carry mana potions.



The merc was probably wearing Tal face for leech and some random high DR rare plate or a Grisword plate. I think I had a Gladiators Bane then....



Haha yes, all mediocre items. The highest and only rundword is an insight for the merc.

I also watched her against Andariel in the andy run. That was fast too. Honestly, the more I look at it the less daunting it looks. Maybe I should do a low-vit mediocre-gear sorc and practice with her some. I'll see. Is there anything in particular needed for the merc, beyond insight? (Okay, maybe a good insight) 

Let me tell you a real story.



Back in the days when western movies were popular so were gangster movies, and prison escape movies. Alcatraz was probably the most famous prison of all. It is famous because it housed many high profile criminals, and so the myth goes, impossible to escape. It is surrounded by the turbulent, shark infested ocean with all kinds of undercurrent dangers, miles away from San Fran. And you probably want to escape in a moonless dark night. Just the thought of it give you chills.



When they abandoned the prison and turned it into a tourist trap, they started a yearly swimming marathon with hundreds of participants... I can see the race from my office window at Pier 39. Always makes me laugh.



So, Just Do It!

[KingOfPain]

Somethings might have changed since the last update on Wed Apr 20. She seems to be taking large chunks hits on both mana and hp

Anyone got the latest gossip on that?